Review of Kasbah

After five years working in the Spanish-Moroccan Society of Magnesium in Morocco, Mario Salas (Ernesto Alterio) receives a fax from his boss Victor Duque (Adolfo Fernández) asking him to welcome his daughter Laura (María Elena Ballesteros) on the eve of the day that he will return to Spain. Mario heads to the ferry where he meets the pothead actresses Alix (Natalia Verbeke) and Lua (Lucia Jiménez) that tell him where the troublemaker Laura is having problems with customs due to her red Jaguar. Laura and Mario have an accident on the road, where he accidentally runs over a sheep of a shepherd. Mario spends the day with her and on the next day, they go to the market in Kasbah for shopping. Out of the blue, Laura vanishes and Mario seeks her out along the day and the night. When he sees the shepherd whose sheep was killed, he believes the man has abducted Laura and he fights with the man and is arrested. On the next morning, Mario is released and together with the emissary from the embassy are Victor Duque and his wife. Victor, who is the father of Mario, believes he has kidnapped Laura to revenge against him and hires the butcher Rodrigo Diez (José Sancho) to track his son. Mario decides to track Laura down through an exotic journey of self- discovery.

"Kasbah" is an interesting road-movie with an exotic journey of self- discovery. The story has an excellent beginning, a good development with sightseeing of the countryside of Morocco but the disappointing conclusion is rushed and lame. The relationship of Mario Salas and his father Victor Duque deserved a better development, and the way Rodrigo Diez ends is quite silly. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Mistério de Kasbah" ("The Mystery of Kasbah")